WHAT: Capitol Hill briefing on “Children in the Fields: The Hidden Problem of Child Labor in America”

WHEN: Monday, February 22 at 11:00am

WHERE: 2103 Rayburn House Office Building

WHO: Panelists will include:
Norma Flores, project director for the Association of Farmworker Opportunity
Programs.

  • Maria Mandujano, former child farmworker, college student, and activist with
    Student Action for Farmworkers.
  • U Roberto (Robin) Romano, award winning photographer, filmmaker and human
    rights educator, currently filming farmworker children and their families for the
    upcoming documentary, The Harvest/La Cosecha.
  • Zama Coursen-Neff, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Children’s Rights
    Division.

On February 22 at 11:00am, the Congressional Labor and Working Families Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus will host a briefing on the hidden problem of child labor in America.

The briefing will focus on child labor in the U.S. agricultural industry and feature footage from the upcoming documentary “The Harvest.” In addition, the panel will include stories of former child farmworkers and findings from a new multi-state Human Rights Watch investigation on their working conditions. Further, the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE Act, HR 3564) will be highlighted, which addresses double-standards in US labor law that allow child farmworkers to work at younger ages, for longer hours, and under more dangerous conditions than other working youth.

This briefing is supported by the First Focus Campaign for Children, the American Federation of Teachers, Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, Child Labor Coalition, and Human Rights Watch.

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